The Oxford India Anthology of Twelve Modern Indian Poets

In this book, Mehrotra has put together an unusually sensitive selection of fine verse in English by some of his best contemporaries. Many of the poems chosen either present new facets of recognized faces, or deliberately differ from those repeatedly on offer in the more standard, mimic anthologies. An insightful and analytical commentary includes essential biographical information, and introduces each of the poets. Although brief, these introductory pieces are so well written as to be of interest in themselves.

The poets who appear in this anthology are Nissim Ezekiel, Jayanta Mahapatra, A.K. Ramanujan, Arun Kolatkar, Keki N. Daruwalla, Dom Moraes, Dilip Chitre, Eunice de Souza, Adil Jussawalla, Agha Shahid Ali, Vikram Seth, and Manohar Shetty.

A must for those interested in poetry, this book will also be appreciated by those who would like to know more about the poetic usage of English in contemporary India.

About the Author:

Arvind Krishna Mehrotra is a well-known poet, translator and critic-historian.

Excerpts from Reviews:

'…the lengthy but absorbing introduction manifests a learned mind who's done enough spadework to undertake such a venture…'

-Economic Times

'[Mehrotra's] brilliant introduction and notes on individual poets convey to us the complexities of their careers and imaginations, and give us a sense of a tradition of Indian verse in English…'

-Times Literary Supplement

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

NISSIM EZEKIEL

A Poem of Dedication
My Cat
For Love's Record
Case Study
Poet, Lover, Birdwatcher
Paradise Flycatcher
Two Images
After Reading a Prediction

A Rain of Rites
I Hear My Fingers Sadly Touching an Ivory Key
Hunger
Hands
The Moon Moments
A Kind of Happiness
The Door
The Abandoned British Cemetery at Balasore
The Captive Air of Chandipur-on-Sea
Of that Love
The Vase
Days
Waiting

The Striders
Breaded Fish
Looking for a Cousin on a Swing
Self-Portrait
Anxiety
Case History
Love Poem for a Wife.
The Hindoo: the Only Risk
Snakes and Ladders
On the Death of a Poem
Highway Stripper
Moulting
Chicago Zen

Woman
Suicide of Rama
Irani Restaurant Bombay
Crabs
Biograph
From Jejuri
The Bus
Heart of Ruin
Chaitanya
A Low Temple
The Pattern
The Househoe Shrine
Manohar
Chaitanya
The Butterfly
A Scratch
Ajamil and the Tigers
Chaitanya
Between Jejuri and the Railway Station
The Railway Station

Hawk
The King Speaks to the Scribe
The Unrest of Desire
Wolf
Fish are Speared by Night
Chinar
Night Fishing

Autobiography
Words to a Boy
Two from Israel
Prophet
Key
From Interludes
VII. Library
Sinbad
From Steles
1. The word works. The world doesn't
2. What is this adrift from Chile
3. On my stele, mark colours
4. She in her youth arose
5. Time and the river, aflame
6. Floes creak out of the north
Future Plans

The Light of Birds Breaks the Lunatic's Sleep
From Travelling in a Cage
2. I Came in the middle of my life to a
5. The door I was afraid to open
7. All I hear is the fraying of the wind
8. I woke up and looked at my empty white bed
19. Where can I hide now in this
21. O quick knives curving into the core
In Limbo
Pushing a Cart
Of Garlic and Such
The Felling of the Banyan Tree
Father Returning Home
Panhala

Feeding the Poor at Christmas
Sweet Sixteen
Miss Louise
Forgive Me, Mother
For My Father, Dead Young
de Souza Prabhu
Women in Dutch Painting
She and I
Eunice
Advice to Women
For Rita's Daughter, Just Born
From Five London Pieces
III. Meeting Poets

Land's End
Evening on a Mountain
Halt X
Bats
From Missing Person

I.3	A _______'s a giggle now
I.6	Black vamps break out of hell
I.7	In a brief clearing
I.9	He travels the way of devotion
I.13	Less time for kicks
II.1	No Satan
II.2	His hands were slavish
II.5	Few either/ors

Nine Poems on Arrival
Freedom Song
Connection

Postcard from Kashmir
Snowmen
Cracked Portraits
The Decca Gauzes
The Season of the Plains
The Previous Occupant

Guest
The Humble Administrator's Garden
Evening Wheat
The Accountant's House
From an 'East is Red' Steamer
Ceasing Upon the Midnight
Unclaimed
From The Golden Gate
Soon

Fireflies
Foreshadows
Gifts
Wounds
Domestic Creatures
Bats
Departures
Moving Out

INDEX OF TITLES

INDEX OF FIRST LINES